Question and Answers is their Victory debut. They hit the studio in February 2006 with Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner (Coheed and Cambria, Straylight Run). So no doubt about the record quality. On the inside of the booklet is written that this record is dedicated to John “Beatz” Holohan and Caitlin Boyle. John “Beatz” Holohan was Bayside’s drummer. He died in a car accident in October 2005. Caitlin Boyle was a psychology student who died of infection of bacterial meningitis in November 2005.

 

Losing two close friends in such a short time is pretty hard to take. It creates a lot of questions that scream for answers. For musicians, music is the best way to cope with such experiences. For The Sleeping it was Question and Answers that helped them out. That’s why it's lyrically pretty heavy. Vocalist Doug Robinson once said in an interview: "This record released a lot of demons in all of us, but at the same time, it definitely fueled some sort of a fire within us. It's hard to be satisfied when things get taken away from people so unexpectedly. That’s why I think this record became an undeniably moody record."

 

Music wise it’s pretty progressive. Progressive in a way like JR Ewing and The Mars Volta. It kind of surprised me that their songs have these happy catchy hooks in it. It’s also a very rhythmical record. The drums reminded me of bands like The Killers and Franz Ferdinand.

Very dance-able. It looks like this album gets a bit louder and heavier in the end, but maybe that’s just me…

 

All together it’s music that I can appreciate. Besides that, I think this record has something special. Because it’s very personal and pretty heavy. You can hear that in almost every song. People who have lost a beloved one will know and recognize….

 

Love,

 

Maurits

 

PS: Release date is unknown to me. So the date set above is incorrect. Though this record already has been released.